Eumir Marcial settles for bronze after brutal showdown with Ukrainian champ

Eumir Marcial fell short of the gold medal match after he was unable to get past Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine in a brutal semifinal clash in the men’s middleweight division at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Thursday at the Kokugikan Arena.

Both fighters were aggressive in the first round with three judges favoring the Filipino fighter, 10-9, but Marcial sustained a cut on top of his head.

Both fighters continued to land big punches on each other in the second round, with the Ukrainian, this time, getting a cut on the bridge of his nose.

But Marcial had to settle for a bronze medal after all of the judges gave the decisive third round to his opponent.

Marcial, 25, was assured of a medal last Sunday after knocking out Arman Darchinyan of Armenia in the quarterfinal round.

Earlier, another Pinoy pug in Carlo Paalam made his way to the gold medal match with a unanimous decision win over Japanese foe Ryomei Tanaka.

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News